Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doug who wrote (30286)	4/27/1999 7:24:00 PM
From: Jon K.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

This guy think Palm div. is worth 25% of Coms. BTW, COMS paid $8.5B for US Robotics in '97 and now the whole thing is worth only $9.7B??? We gotta make the most out of Palm. An interesting piece on Palm history: thestreet.com >>>> Holding the Tech World in the Palm of Her Hand By Jim Seymour Special to TheStreet.com 4/27/99 12:06 PM ET It's the Age of Lists. I've got a list, you've got a list, everybody's got a little list. Or two, or 10. Including, it turns out, Donna Dubinsky. Dubinsky is one of the tech managers I most admire. After the so-called pen computing wave rippled through the PC world a few years ago, washing away a few hundred million dollars -- a conservative guess -- Dubinsky, along with co-founder Jeff Hawkins and a tiny development team, jumped in with Palm Computing, cooked up the original Palm Pilot ... and the rest is history. They eventually ran out of cash and had to sell out to modem maker U.S. Robotics to get the money to bring the Palm to market. U.S. Robotics was in turn acquired by 3Com (COMS:Nasdaq) in mid-1997. That was a problematic acquisition: 3Com paid $8.5 billion in stock, and the U.S. Robotics modem line soon slipped into the miasma affecting most dial-up-modem suppliers -- but the Palm Pilot assets blossomed nicely. Indeed, the value of 3Com's Palm division, and the appeal of spinning it off as a .com after an acquisition, is surely one of the reasons Ericsson (ERICY:Nasdaq ADR) and Siemens have supposedly been sniffing around 3Com lately. I value the Palm.com business at something north of $2 billion, or almost a quarter of 3Com's market cap today. Dubinsky is long gone from 3Com, having decamped with Hawkins last year to form HandSpring YASVS (Yet Another Silicon Valley Start-up). Privately held HandSpring has been quiet about its plans, but it's widely understood to be bringing to market what amount to next-generation palm-computing devices. Investors have filled Dubinsky's and Hawkins' pockets with enough cash for HandSpring to hit the market running this time, and the company is given a good chance of success, even against Microsoft's (MSFT:Nasdaq) huge push for its Windows CE minioperating system and the (non-Palm) palmtop devices that use it. Last week Dubinsky received the annual Entrepreneurial Achievement Award from Silicon Valley's Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. Amid the usual encomiums at the awards dinner, Dubinksy's generous speech stood out, in large part because it included her three lists for success in life. (I am indebted to Chris Nolan, who included these in her excellent column in the San Jose Mercury News on Sunday.) Without elaboration -- they hardly need any! -- here are Dubinsky's wise rules for survival. Just watch: These are so good that someone's going to build a graduate business school course -- or a whole curriculum! -- around them ... or should. Dubinsky's Five Entrepreneur's Lessons 1.Incumbency can be a disadvantage. 2.Partners are not a panacea. 3.Great products matter. 4.You must challenge conventional wisdom. 5.You can never have too much money. ("I don't mean you, personally, I mean your company.") Dubinsky's Five Business Lessons 1.It takes a team. 2.Strategies don't move mountains. Bulldozers move mountains. ("I stole this from Peter Drucker.'") 3.You've got to be smart and you've got to be lucky -- and you've got to know which is which. 4.You should aim for a win/win. 5.Ignore sunk costs. Just because you've spent money on a project doesn't mean it was a good idea. Dubinsky's Five Life Lessons 1.Have your go-to-hell money. 2.Everybody shows up again, particularly in this Valley. 3.Get a life. 4.Wealth is worth sharing. ("You can give away more than you think.") 5.Integrity is No. 1.